


Something About You

by LadyAuroraPendragon



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bad Puns, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, M/M, One-Sided Enemies, Pickup Lines, Slow Build, dumb boys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-15
Updated: 2014-10-13
Packaged: 2018-02-17 11:55:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2308814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyAuroraPendragon/pseuds/LadyAuroraPendragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Uther Pendragon expands the business and Arthur moves to Wales to run the office, he meets an unexpected and not so new neighbor; Morgana's old boyfriend, Merlin. With Merlin's clear attempts to befriend Arthur, and his all around dorky-ness, will Arthur accidently fall too, just like his sister did?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> (A/N: So, hello again! So, I really wanted to write another chapter fic, but I also didn't want to do canon, I do a lot of canon and I'm tired of canon, well, not really tired, but had enough of it for awhile. And I also really love modern fics right now. I don't know how popular modern chapter fics are, Flame's was pretty popular but that wasn't completely modern, this is, but I do hope you give it a chance. This idea was literally thought up because I love bad puns, you'll see why this even matters later on. I then added the bit that Merlin and Morgana used to date for drama reasons. I plan on making this a pretty long chapter fic, hopefully, with pretty long chapters, because I want to work on my writing skills more and using canon isn't really creating my own back story and whatnot, this is though, this is more, just using other peoples characters to tell a story, if that makes sense, I hope it does. I don't own Merlin, I wish I did...)

"This is my new boyfriend, Merlin," she had said, smiling happily, with a string bean connected to her arm. Alright, he wasn't a string bean, but he was close enough. Arthur had never seen such a skinny excuse for a guy in his life. But he supposed he was nice enough, a bit of a dork, honestly. But, just as long as he made Arthur's sister happy, what more could Arthur ask for?

Of course, nine months later, he didn't have any trouble at all, going over to the string beans house at three in the morning and punching him right in the eye, that's what happens when you hurt Arthur's little sister. The string bean wasn't thought about again.

**_ XXX _ **

Uther (Glare Of Disapproval) Pendragon was expanding the company, building another office in Wales, and obviously, he needed someone there to run it the way he wanted his business run, so who else would do this but his own son, Arthur? No one that's who, and so Arthur told him, and so he agreed. It's not that Arthur wanted to move away from his father and sister and his entire life, basically, but this was good for him, really good. It proved Arthur could be responsible and take charge, so when that unfortunate time comes, that Uther kicks the bucket, Arthur will be allowed to take over the business. Not that stuffy bloke, Geoffrey, who has been up Uther's ass for the past twenty years.

So, he packed up his stuff, and said his goodbyes, his father let his warnings be heard, about not screwing up, Morgana told him she'd call as often as she could, so he didn't feel lonesome all on his own, (though Arthur thought it was just because she's nosy,) and Gwen cried a lot. Leon patted him on the back and told him he was rooting for him, Lance smiled proudly as they bro hugged and Gwaine tried to tag along, which made Arthur promptly kick him out of his car.

He was only moving four hours away, it wasn't like he was moving to the states or something. And really, it was he who should be upset, he was the one moving to a town he didn't know and the one who didn't know anyone in this town, sure he would make friends, he was good at that, but really, his family and friends were acting like someone just died.

It felt like someone had just died though, once he finally got to his new home, a two bedroom flat, two blocks away from his new place of work. It hadn't quite dawned on him, of course, that he would be all alone, never before, in his entire life had he been all alone, he didn't like it, not one bit. He ended up talking to Morgana all night that night, he didn't want to admit it, but he was kind of scared, of course she knew that though, Morgana had a way of just knowing things, and of course, she made fun of him like there was no tomorrow.

Two days later, on the morning of his first day at work, he was less scared now, he had been out exploring and found a good pub and a decent restaurant to eat for lunch, that's all he really needed right now, friends would come later.

He headed out, down the hall to catch a lift. His phone buzzed in his new, freshly pressed, dark, navy blue trousers and he pulled it out, rolling his eyes at his sister's text.

_**"Is the little baby scared of his first day of being a grown up?"** _

He knew it was her way of asking if he was alright and he appreciated it, sending back a zinger about her being a cold hearted bitch. The lifts dinged and he walked forward, hitting send on his phone, marveling at his cleverly crafted, hateful words to his little sister, when he ran into something. It was hard and pointy and it made an _umph_ sound as it staggered back. Arthur didn't look up quick enough to see the bag of groceries fall from the pointy things arms and start spilling out of their paper bag, not until he heard what sounded like breaking glass and suddenly felt rather wet around the leg area.

"Son of a bitch!" Arthur shouted, looking at the red souce all over his pants.

"I'm sorry," sputtered the fool that just ruined Arthurs new trousers. "I'm so sorry, I can pay for that, I can get it out actually, just give me like…twenty-"

"I'll be late for work!" Arthur stopped him, looking up to glare daggers at the idiot. Of course, it wasn't really his fault, but it was eight thirty in the morning, Arthur was due at the office at nine and these were expensive pants!

"Oh…I am so sor-wait a second," the bloke said and Arthur finally looked at him properly for the first time. The bloke, dark haired and blue eyed, he had a certain look about him, like Arthur had seen him before. His eyes narrowed just as the blokes did. They looked at each other. "You're Arthur Pendragon!" he finally said, just as the lift started dinging, the doors had been open too long. But now the bloke was laughing. "You probably don't remember me, do you?"

"I can't say that I do!" Arthur barked, deeming this matter of _who the hell this guy was_ , a problem for later, now, he had red sauce all over his pants and was going to be late for work. "But if you'll excuse me."

He turned around, heading back toward his flat, to his dismay, the bloke followed. "I doubt you much care now, now that you've got my dinner all over your pants, but-"

"I wouldn't care even if I didn't have your dinner all over my pants," Arthur continued to bark, finally reaching his door. He wasn't sure why this guy thought Arthur would care, if anything, he should be fearing for his life right now. But instead, the guy was smiling at him. "What?!"

"Just as much of a prat as always," he said, with a shake of the head and Arthur froze there, just as he thought about slamming the door in the blokes face, he remembered something. "It's all the same you don't remember me, you never liked me much anyway."

"You're Merlin," he said, like he was a genius, and (to at least himself,) he was. "You used to date my sister."

"Yeah," Merlin grinned. "Took you a bit to get there, didn't it? Hm, you never were overly bright."

"And you're still a jackass!" Arthur retorted, getting fed up, he slammed the door finally, just as it looked like Merlin was about to say something else. He had been right though, Arthur never liked him much.

Arthur changed his pants quickly, and then his shirt too, because he didn't match as well as he wanted to anymore. By the time he walked back out of his falt again, it was eight fifty and Arthur was surely going to be late, it was enviable. He didn't see Merlin in the hall this time, as he left, and it was a good thing for the other that Arthur didn't. He spirited from the building and jumped into his car like he was in a 70's, American sitcom and drove down the street like a madman. He reached the office at exactly nine o'clock and ran to the door, stopping there to smooth out his suit jacket and panic, because this was an awful time not to remember if you put on deodorant after that mornings shower.

He walked in, finally, like the professional he was, stopping in front of the welcome desk and flashed a smile. The elderly woman behind the desk grinned up at him.

"Arthur?" she asked, but he guessed she knew who he was already, because she was standing up and he had come to the grand opening with his father a few months back. So, he just nodded. "It's nice to see you again and finally, really meet you."

"You too," he agreed, reaching out to shake her hand. She shook his, with a pleased smile.

"I'm Alice," she said, letting go of his hand and walking out from behind the desk. "Let me show you to where your office will be and let's let you get settled."

He nodded once again and followed her. She was a nice old lady, he thought, as he followed, passing other offices with people working in them, some looked up and some pretended to be on the phone. It was like he was the boss already, and he was!

He had the biggest office in the building, it was all the way at the end of the hall and it had a plant on the desk, he would end up killing that in no time. He walked around the dark, wooden desk, running his fingers across it and smiled, this was his, all his. Of course he would still have to talk to his father about all big decisions and cases, but this was still his.

"I'll leave you to it," the woman said, who reminded him a bit of his grandmother, who had only came around a few times when Arthur was young, before she died. "I'll be right out there if you need anything, don't be afraid to call."

"Thank you…Alice," he grimaced, hoping he got her name right. But when she beamed at him, he supposed he did and then watched her walk out, surprisingly sharp-footed for an old lady. She shut the door on her way out and Arthur leaned back in the chair, arms stretching out and then went behind his head. This was his, he kept telling himself, _his_.

Needless to say, Merlin and red sauced pants didn't enter his mind, not once, the rest of the day.

At five thirty, Arthur walked off the lift and headed to his flat, texting Gwen this time, to tell her how things were going. He didn't bother looking up when he heard footsteps either in front or behind him. He had just finished writing the word _fantastic_ when he ran into something, for the second time that day, but this time, this something was plushy and he fell back, landing on his ass, on the less than soft carpted floors of the hallway, something was on his lap too, it smelled like rotten fish. When he opened his eyes and saw a black bag full of rubbish in his lap, he yelped and pushed it off of him, standing up and glaring at who kocked him over. And of course, (of fucking course,) it was Merlin, he didn't look unsettled by this accident though, he looked pleased.

"You know you should really watch where you're going, neighbor," he said, in a voice that Arthur didn't like at all. Arthur, growled, mostly to contain the swears he was thinking, and screwed up his fists.

"Listen here…" but he stopped, running back through what Merlin had just said. "What the hell do you mean neighbor?"

Merlin had the audacity to laugh, "I live right here," he pointed to the door, right across from Arthur's. "We're neighbors now, I guess, isn't that great?"

"No, that is not great!" Arthur retorted, flabbergasted. He had never even thought about what Merlin was doing here, with bags of red sauce, didn't even assume he lived in the building. Merlin was laughing again.

"Aw, don't be so grumpy," he said, to which, Arthur rolled his eyes. "I'm sure we'll become good friends."

"Like hell we will!" Arthur told him, kicking his bag of rubbish toward him. "Knock into me again and I'll file!"he added for good measure. "Good day!"

He wrenched open his door and looked back to see Merlin frowning, he felt sort of bad, but not bad enough, when he thought of his sister and what this inbred did to her.

"Why did you always hate me so much?" Merlin asked, he sounded so pleading, like this was actually really important to him. "I couldn't ever figure it out…"

"After what you did to my sister?" Arthur scoffed. "You're lucky hate is all I ever did to you," it looked like Merlin wanted to say something; he was reaching his hand out as Arthur slammed the door in his face. "Idiot…" Arthur muttered, unfazed, as he unbuckled his second pair of ruined pants for the day. "What the hell was in his garbage anyway?"

"Fried herring!" He heard from behind his shut door, he rolled his eyes at that. Well, he was definitely going to have to shower.


	2. Chapter 2

Arthur was off on the weekends, that means from Friday night all the way til Monday morning, Arthur is completely lost as what to do. Last weekend he had a Marvel marathon and this week he had to physically restrain himself from driving the four hours back to London. It had only been two weeks since he had left, it would be ridiculous to go back so soon, and pathetic, very pathetic. That's how he found himself in a pub, the Red Dragon, he nursed a beer while he watched a footie game on the big telly. He was a loser, he could feel it. Only losers sit in a pub called Red Dragon and watch footie matches, well…losers do so on their own. Now, if he had a group, like, if he, Leon, Lance and Gwaine were all sitting around, that would be different. Although, this might just be the thoughts of a man who misses his home, which again…was rather pathetic.

"Homesick?" someone asked him and turned around to glare. _Merlin_ , Merlin was everywhere, the library, the grocery store, the park; Arthur couldn't be rid of him.

"Are you stalking me?" Arthur rebutted, not bothering to answer a big, fat _yes!_ To that question.

"No," Merlin shrugged and sat down in the seat beside him, even though Arthur cearly didn't want him there. "I just noticed you looked upset and thought I'd see if you were okay."

"I'm fine…"

"You're welcome then," Merlin commented, smirking, very knowingly, which Arthur didn't like at all. He glared. "See, this is the part where you say _'thanks, Merlin for being so nice when you really didn't have to because I'm a giant prat,'_ and then I say… _'you're welcome, it was no trouble,_ ' and we leave as unlikely friends."

"What sort of fantasy world do you live in, mate?" Arthur asked, raising an eyebrow at Merlin, whom laughed, loudly.

"I guess a pretty nice one," he shrugged, popping a nut, from the bowl of nuts in front of Arthur, into his mouth. "At least there you can actually stomach breathing the same air as me."

"That's pretty sad, my fantasy world normally involves Asgard and army of good looking people fanning me," Arthur shrugged, smirking.

"Figures," Merlin countered, looking pleased with himself, or at least, how the conversation was going. "Well, in my world, we have Loki, so…"

"I have an army of good looking people!" Arthur stressed his point, waving his hands, like they were fans, in front of his face.

"We have a Hulk," Merlin said and grinned; only slightly, looking over at Arthur with big, approval seeking eyes. When Arthur laughed a bit, that grin turned into a full on smile. "Look at that, I think we're getting along."

"Nah," Arthur shook his head at this, even though they were. Maybe Merlin wasn't a complete douche-nozzle, like Arthur had previously thought. "I think we're still stuck in your fantasy world."

"I think I'll stay here for awhile then, if it's all the same to you," Merlin commented and Arthur looked over at him, a bit surprised. He finished off his beer, still watching Merlin, as he sipped his own drink, which was some horrid pink color.

"I never hated you," he decided to say, probably a bit buzzed from the drink and at this point, not all together in the mind. Merlin turned to look at him, from where he was looking, at some girl and guy at another table. "Back when you were with Morgana, I never hated you then."

"Not until I hurt her, yeah?" Merlin asked, smirking a bit now. "I got that much when you punched me in the face."

"You don't get to hurt my sister," Arthur shrugged, remembering the night well, even now. "I'm protective over her."

"I know, I always thought that was sweet, you know…until you punched me in the face," Merlin stated, still looking pleased, even though they were talking about the bodily harm Arthur may or may not have caused him. "My eye was black for weeks."

"You deserved it, after what you did to her," Arthur retorted, starting to feel slightly annoyed. Just when he thought he and Merlin were actually getting along. He almost wished he didn't bring it up, but he did so there was nothing to be done of it now. It was clear, they couldn't be friends.

"I didn't even do anything," Merlin said, and that, if not anything else, sealed it, right there. He didn't think he did anything, that's why she was crying all over Arthur's shoulder, was it? Arthur rolled his eyes. "She broke up with me."

"Because you cheated on her!"

"What?!" Merlin squeaked, looking appalled, suddenly. "I did not!" Arthur rolled his eyes at this too, of course he would deny it. "I didn't, Arthur!" he continued on. "I swear I didn't, I wouldn't do that to her!"

"She said you did," Arthur explained, he knew that he did, so Merlin could stop pretending now. Stop pretending to be this great guy, because really, he was a shit person, just like everyone else Morgana dated back then.

"She's lying then!" Merlin exclaimed, jumping up, out of his seat. "I've never cheated on anyone, I wouldn't!"

"You want to make a scene of this?" Arthur asked, causally enough, looking up at Merlin, with a raised eyebrow. "I'll blacken both your eyes this time."

Merlin stepped back, eyes narrowing. "Arthur…"

"You okay?" another voice asked now. A girl, short, with brown hair, was standing next to Merlin now. She had her hand on his forearm and his whole posture had changed, to defeat, he nodded just the same.

"I'm fine, you can go back with Will, I'll be there in a minute," Merlin told her, smiling slightly. But the girls eyes were on Arthur now, and his were on the girls in return. "Freya, this is Arthur, Arthur…this is Freya, my girlfriend."

"Nice to meet you," Arthur bowed his head slightly, but actually, wanted to tell her to run from the cheater before he did it to another girl. He didn't though, and he was glad he didn't, because the girl gave him a nasty glare and really, what was that for? Probably because he was previously fighting with her boyfriend, but oh well, Merlin deserved it.

"Hi," she was short and cold, before looking back at Merlin. "Hurry, I want to go home, Will's talking about war again."

Merlin chuckled at this, "Alright," he put his arm around Freya's waist and looked back at Arthur one last time, now though, with hurt eyes. "See you around..."

Arthur didn't say anything, as he watched the couple walk away, over to the table Merlin had been looking at before, well, at least that explained that. It wasn't long, a few minutes, in fact, that the three sitting at the table got up and left, leaving Arthur to sit there and pretend not to watch them as they did.

It was the next morning actually, that Arthur learned Freya lived in the flat across the way too, he had thought it was just Merlin, but apparently not. He had learned this from the next door neighbor, Mrs. Branson, whom he barrowed a cup of sugar from. For coffee, of course, Arthur actually baking anything was laughable. He could barely fry an egg on his best day, whatmore, he could barely make toast, he always ended up burning it.

Now, less interested in his (probably cold,) sugarless coffee, he was quite intent in finding out more about Merlin and Freya, though, he couldn't explain why. He learned over scones, that they had been together for two years now and seemed very happy, at least to Mrs. Branson. Merlin was a writer and Freya was a cook, they had no future plans for children and that seemed to please Mrs. Branson, who did in fact, seem like an old crow.

It just intrigued Arthur is all, because as far as Mrs. Branson could tell, Merlin had never cheated on Freya, which pissed Arthur off a bit, for some reason or another. Mainly because why did Merlin cheat on Morgana then? Morgana was much prettier than this Freya was, much more fun too, so it seemed. Although, Merlin had been eighteen at the time, so Arthur guessed he was just being young and dumb, he must have grown up some since then. Though, it didn't really seem like he did, Merlin still acted like a dork.

He had gotten a bit buffer, Arthur noted, nowhere comparing with himself or his friends, but Merlin did seem more toned now, like he had worked out or something, probably to impress Freya. Arthur surely wouldn't want to date a string bean if it were him.

Once Arthur got back to his flat, sick of scones, he thought of relaying all this information to Morgana, to see what she would say, but even after pulling out his phone and turning it on, he decided against it. He didn't want to open old wounds for his sister, she had been so hurt when she and Merlin broke up. He had yet to even tell her or his friends that he was unfortunate enough to be living across the hall from the cheater, so he supposed he had better keep it to himself, it didn't really matter anyway.

That night though, as he sat on his couch, watching Top Gear and gorging himself on Rocky Road ice cream, he got a call from Morgana. It wasn't odd that she called, keeping to her promise, she called him all the time, just to chat, or to make him miserable. (Like any good sister should.) What he wasn't expecting, though, was her yelling on the other end of the phone, not at least without him saying something snotty first.

"What the hell are you saying to me?" he asked, his ear ringing, he was surely going to be deaf in it. "Speak quieter!"

"'I'm sorry!" she said, breathlessly. "I just…I had to tell you, me and Gwen are squeeling right now and I just wouldn't feel right if you and Gwen weren't the first I told."

"HI, ARTHUR, ISN'T THIS JUST AMAZING?!" came Gwen's exicted voice, she sounded breathless too, now Arthur was really wondering what the hell was going on.

"What is so amazing?" he asked.

"I'm getting married!" Morgana yelled, loud enough that Arthur had to pull the phone away from his ear again, but at least this time, he heard.

"Ha! Shut up, you are not!" he countered; he heard the girls giggling on the other end and knew, they weren't lying. No girl giggles like that and isn't telling the truth, it's basic girl code. "Who asked you?"

"Who do you think, dolt?" Morgana spat, turning from girl to monster in two seconds. "Leon, clearly!"

"I didn't think he had it in him, to be honest."

"I didn't either," Morgana admitted, laughing. "Oh god…Arthur, I'm so excited!"

"I bet, when's the wedding?"

"I don't know, he just asked me tonight."

"Don't suppose you've told dad yet?"

"Hell no," Morgana answered. "I'm not sure I should…"

"He likes Leon, I bet he'll be alright with it," he said. He wasn't lying either, Uther had always liked Leon, ever since they were kids. "You've got one thing going for you, it's not Gwaine."

"Shut up, that was one time…"

"It was six, actually," came Gwen's voice again, sounding a bit timid but also confident, which was just totally Gwen for you.

"It was eight, being honest," Morgana admitted. Arthur laughed at this.

"Don't tell Leon, whatever you do."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Morgana said, and then made a breathy noise. "Arthur, will you please come home and be there when I tell father?" she asked then, and she _never_ said please. He was a little shocked. "You know how he is, and we'll just end up in a fight."

"Of course I will," he said, before he really thought about it, he was trapped in semi-shock still; from his sister using the world please and the protective big brother mode he always seemed to suffer from. "Next weekend, how 'bout that?"

"That's perfect."


	3. Chapter 3

Arthur packed his car full of stuff, so ready for this trip back to London, he didn't care that it had only been three weeks that he was gone, it felt like forever. He missed his family and his friends so much and even though it was only for the weekend, Arthur was still excited. He slammed his trunk shut and turned to see Merlin there, watching him. That's not creepy or anything.

"Moving already?" Merlin called, smirking, and Arthur crossed his arms over his chest, cocking his head a bit.

"Maybe I had enough of your fish smelling rubbish and stalker-ish ways," Arthur shrugged. "Not to mention the sauced pants."

"I told you I'd pay for that," Merlin told him, walking over, eyeing his car quickly, and then him. "So, where are you going?"

"Back to London for the weekend, got a bit of business to do there," Arthur stated. "Not that it's any of your _business_ what I'm doing."

"Course not," Merlin shook his head. "Just being neighborly."

"Some call that nosy, you know," Arthur retorted.

"Like you were with Mrs. Branson?" Merlin questioned and Arthur's mouth fell open a bit. He couldn't even recover before Merlin started laughing. "She told me you were asking about me, I thought that was…what do you call it? A bit stalker-ish?"

"She mentioned you first," he said, it was Arthur's only defense. Merlin laughed again, _this was bad!_

"So you decided to grill her about all she knows, huh?" Merlin grinned. "'Fraid I live a bit of a boring life."

"You could say that again," Arthur jabbed, just so he could feel like something was right in the world again. He didn't like it when Merlin had the upper hand. "Almost fell asleep on the scones."

"Mrs. Branson has that effect on people," Merlin was still grinning. "But you know if you wanted to know about me, you could've just asked me, I would've even made you dinner first."

Arthur didn't like the way Merlin said that, so he glared. "You probably would've spilled it on me."

"Maybe a little bit," Merlin's grin still hadn't faltered, in fact, it was growing. "When you come back maybe you can have dinner at my place."

"Why would I do that?" Arthur had to ask.

"Well…you don't really know anyone, I figure, since you're only friend is an eighty one year old who makes scones all day, I was being nice…"

"You're always being _nice_ , aren't you, _Merlin_?" Arthur raised an eyebrow. "But I'll think about it."

"It's all I ask," Merlin was grinning _still_ , his face had to hurt. "I promise it won't be anything with red sauce or fish."

"It better not be…" Arthur stated, and they fell silent, looking at each other for a moment. Merlin was kicking a pebble with his foot and Arthur just stood there, looking at his dark hair and weirdly long eyelashes. "So….Morgana's getting married," he decided to share, which made Merlin look up. "To Leon, I'm going back to help her tell my dad."

"That's great!" Merlin exclaimed, possibly smiling bigger than Arthur had ever seen him before. He was hoping he might be upset over this news, or at least feel like an idiot for dumping her. "I always knew Leon fancied her, it was the way he looked at her, you know, like she was his whole world. "

"It was disgusting, you didn't have to see him all the time, just remember that," Arthur commented, to which, Merlin smiled bigger, shockingly enough. Arthur didn't think it was possible, but there it was. "Honestly, the way he went on about her."

"That's adorable, really."

"You would think that…"

"I do, I'd tell you to give her my blessing, but she probably wouldn't want it," Merlin frowned, so suddenly, that Arthur was a bit confused, with how he was smiling before. "I'm still really happy for her though….she deserves to be happy."

"Yes she does," Arthur replied, defensively. Merlin nodded, and then sighed, leaving them to stare at each other again. Arthur causally, or maybe not so, looked down at his watch, and saw it was almost eleven, he had to be getting on the road soon, to beat the afternoon traffic. "I should be going."

"Okay," Merlin smiled. "Have fun, and remember our dinner, the night you get back!"

"Right…whoa!" Arthur paused, glaring at him. "When did we agree on that?"

"Just now," Merlin grinned, all but skipping away from Arthur, back to the stairs of the apartment building. "See you Monday, Arthur!"

"What an idiot…" Arthur muttered, rolling his eyes as Merlin waved him off. If he thought Arthur was going to dinner on Monday, he was crazy.

**_XXX _ **

"Arthur!" Morgana yelled, running out from their family house, as he was getting out of the car. He was a little surprised when she came running up to him and hugged him. He hadn't been gone that long, even if it felt like a long time to him too.

"What the hell…?" he said, pulling himself out of the hug. "What are you playing at?"

"What?" she glared. "I can't hug my brother?"

"No…" he answered plainly, her glare deepened and he pulled her into a quick, guilty hug. "When do you plan on telling him?" he asked, looking over her head, she was much shorter than he was, he could see clearly over her. He could see their father inside, doing something in the family room.

"I was thinking at dinner, Leon will be here," Morgana pushed him away and took his hand instead, dragging him inside. "Father, look who's finally showed up!"

"Ah, Arthur," Uther said, as he turned around, smiling something close to a smile. He walked over and shook Arthur's hand. "Nice to see you again."

Arthur nodded, feeling suddenly like one of his father's old clients. He had forgotten how that felt these last three weeks, being away. Morgana gave him a look and then wondered off into the kitchen, probably to hurry the cook along, or harass her, whichever it took to get dinner done faster.

"So," Arthur said, walking over and falling into one of the clean, white couches. "How're things at the firm here?"

"Same as always," Uther commented, taking up his favorite red chair and looking at Arthur over his pipe. "I have talked to Alice last week; she says you are doing marvelously thus far. That is good to hear."

"Well, I had a good teacher," Arthur smiled, genuinely. Uther nodded.

"That you did."

Morgana returned then, looking a bit put upon, she sat down next to Arthur and sighed. "Dinner will be at its usual time."

"Have you somewhere else to be?" Uther asked and Morgana shrugged.

"Anywhere's better than here."

"Well, no one is asking you to stay," Uther commented.

Uther had always been a bit closed off from his children. Arthur had always thought it had something to do with Arthur's mother, who died when Arthur was just a baby, and so he has heard, from relatives, that Uther hadn't been the same since. And then Morgana came along, and that was really quite a shock, because Arthur couldn't ever quite figure out how Uther managed it. (Well now a-days he wonders, not then, his three year old self didn't really care that much.) Uther, who treated his children like co-workers, he couldn't have treated a girlfriend much better. He couldn't have treated her very nicely, indeed, because a month after Morgana was born her mother left her on the doorstep, never to be heard from again.

Morgana had always blamed her father for not having her mother around, which led them to not have the best relationship, not that Uther had good relationships with anyone anyway. It did though, make Arthur and Morgana closer than most siblings, you might say, sometimes it felt like they had raised themselves.

By the time dinner was done Leon had long since arrived and was hiding out with Arthur in his old bedroom. They were playing games on the old play station and Arthur was losing, which actually pissed him off quite a bit. He was happy for the distraction that was Morgana, coming into the room.

"Look at the two little boys playing games," she said, in a fake coo. "Dinner's ready though, and if you don't remember, we have something important to discuss with father."

Leon promptly paused the racing game and stood up, following his soon-to-be wife out of the room. "Hooked," Arthur, muttered as Leon passed, smirking to himself, Leon looked back and shrugged, a smirk matching Arthur's, as he exited the room. Arthur followed them out too, heading downstairs to the dining room. He frowned though, when he noticed fried herring on his plate, it made him think about Merlin and he glanced over to Morgana, who was sharing nervious looks with Leon. Well, Arthur couldn't very well tell his sister about her ex boyfriend who just so happened to be Arthur's neighbor now, when she was about to tell her father she was marrying Leon.

Leon would feel awful surely, and awkward too. It wasn't as though Leon didn't know who Merlin was, he had been there, hell, he had been friends with the Pendragons since early childhood, so it wasn't as if he didn't know Merlin. He was pretty sure Leon had even liked Merlin, though, Arthur couldn't see why.

Uther finally walked in and sat at the head of the table, looking down at his meal emotionless. Arthur glanced over to Morgana and Leon again and saw them both all but sweating. He didn't get Morgana's problem, Leon's he understood, Leon had always been intimidated by Uther, who isn't though? Morgana, however, she always enjoyed saying things that pissed off their father. The madder he got, the happier she seemed to get. But he supposed Uther disapproving of something like marriage was a bit more extreme than him hating her belly-button ring.(Which Arthur hated too, mind you.)

Arthur cleared his throat and Morgana looked over, he nodded toward their father, singling her, it was the perfect time to tell him. Uther was in mid-bite and if he wanted to yell, he would at least have to swallow first. Which gave the couple a few seconds at least, to escape his wrath. When you make Uther Pendragon mad, he no longer has any trouble expressing himself, in fact, once when he found Arthur in bed with a guy from school, Uther expressed himself so much the police were called.

"Father..." Morgana finally opened her mouth. "We have something to tell you." She took Leon's hand, just as Uther looked up at them, eyebrow of disapproval raised. "Father, Leon asked me to marry him and I said yes."

Uther sat silent, chewing his fish and looking them both over, very closely. "The Nobles are a good family," he commented, in his own time, now rubbing at his chin as if in deep thought. "They have been my clients for years," he commented once more. He looked up suddenly then, and shrugged. "I approve."

Everyone just sat there, watching Uther, waiting for him to say more, when he didn't and returned to eating his herring, the three looked at each other and silently laughed. _That went well_ , Arthur thought, passing on the herring and eating the buttered potato on his plate instead.

After dinner and glasses of wine, in mild celebration of Leon and Morgana's upcoming union , the couple left and Arthur went up to his old bedroom. Before he had left for Wales, he had his own flat but he sold it and now he was stuck here. He wasn't exactly pleased about it., his father's company wasn't the best.

It was only six o'clock and already his father was getting ready for bed, but Arthur wasn't tired. Like any normal human being, he wanted to go do something. So, he called up Gwaine and Lance, Percy and all of his other friends; they were going out to get plastered tonight, in honor of Morgana and Leon's engagement, of course. (Even though neither of them were going.)


	4. Chapter 4

On Sunday, Arthur staggered out of his bed, hung over and tired. Uther didn't believe in taking weekends off, so he was at work, the cook only came around for dinner these days, which left Arthur alone with only the maid in the house. She would do all she could to ignore him tough, so Arthur quickly changed into his swim trunks and headed out back, to the pool. It might be mid September but it wasn't that cold yet, and he was willing to chance being a little cold.

Apart from the splitting headache the sun gave him, (damn hang over,) he set up a pool chair and sat out in the sun. It wasn't often London got many sunny days, he appreciated one of them being on the day he was here.

He must have sat out there for an hour or two before he got lonely. He sat up and picked up his cell phone he'd left on the little side table by his chair for later use and now, started to text Gwen. He had seen all his guy friends last night and Morgana at dinner, and would surely see his sister once again, the only one left was Gwen, he couldn't go back to Wales without seeing her.

He had just hit send when he heard. "Ohh, Arthur!" coming from the direction of the backdoor and he suddenly had the urge to drown himself. He looked up instead of ending his life and saw Vivian there. The blonde haired, blue eyed teenage girl from next door. "I heard you were back…"

"I'm leaving tomorrow morning…early," he said, eyeing her, feeling slightly like covering up his chest, because she was looking at it. "How did you get in the house?"

Vivian was obsessed with him, he was sure of it, even though everyone else he told laughed it off. It was serious; she used to ogle him when he would come around. Once he even caught her in his room, with no good explanation of why she was there. Arthur didn't understand it, she used to be such a rotten child, screamed and cried and give everyone death glares. But it seemed when Arthur went off to uni, things had changed, and not just for him. Vivian walked closer, eyes lingering in places they shouldn't be.

"I have my ways," she commented, smiling brightly. "So, you're all alone, here in this big house?"

"No, Gwen is coming over…" he trailed off, getting up, out of the pool chair and wrapping the towel he was laying on around him.

"Ew, Gwen…she's so drape, so boring," Vivian stated, pulling _a I smelled bad cheese face_. "Why does everyone like her so much?"

"Well, I really couldn't say," Arthur said, smiling politely. "But as you can see I'm in good hands so you can just run on home and do your….teenage things."

"No, I think I'd rather stay.." Vivian trailed off and came to sit on the same pool chair Arthur had been sitting on, but sideways, she patted the spot next to her and blew Arthur a kiss. He should have drowned himself, it would have been easier.

"Hello, hello!" came Gwen's voice then, and Vivian's pursed lips flattened into an annoyed thin line. "Oh, hello Vivian, it's been awhile, dear," Gwen said, walking over to Arthur and pulling him into a hug. "Hello, love."

"Get me away from her," Arthur muttered into Gwen's ear and she giggled, slapping at Arthur's chest when they pulled apart.

"Ready to go to that movie?" she asked, winking at him. He nodded along.

"Yeah, let's go!" he said, waving to Vivian. "See you around." He hoped to never see her again, honestly. Then he walked inside, without even seeing his unwelcomed guest to the door. He went up to his room and changed, quickly. When he came back down stairs, Vivian was gone. "That girl is obsessed with me, damn it!"

"She just fancies you, I think it's sweet," Gwen said, as they headed to her car.

"You would think it's sweet, you're a _girl_."

_** XXX ** _

Arthur had to wake up at four in the morning, so he had enough time to make the four hour drive and get back to his flat before it was time for work. He was cutting it close too, he didn't even have time to shower, just switched into some business-like clothes, before sprinting back out of his flat to make it to work on time.

Eight fifty six, as close to on time as you could get.

Work was pretty boring that day, all Arthur had to do was look over a civil suit for a Mr. Potts against some other guy who's name Arthur couldn't pronounce. He must be Chinese, Arthur thought, after closing the document.

Five o'clock, Arthur was out of there. He stopped by a diner and picked himself up a burger for dinner. He headed back to his flat then, getting changed into comfortable clothes before turning on the TV and sat back, taking a bite of his burger.

It was a good burger, it had cheese and tomato and mayonnaise, it was perfect, delicious, better if some damn idiot wasn't knocking at his door like a madman. He put his food down on the coffee table and walked over to the door, he wrenched it open to see Merlin there. Arthur galred.

"What the hell do you want?"

He had only been home less than an hour, not even back in Wales a whole day without this guy bothering him. Merlin was smiling, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet and trying to peek over Arthur's shoulder, to see into his flat, Arthur blocked him every time.

"Aren't you forget something?" Merlin asked, in a sing-song voice. Arthur thought about t for a moment, or pretended to.

"Merlin Replant?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. Merlin made a face at that, it wasn't really a offended face, nor was it an amused face. It kind of looked like he was saying ' _Oh, you prat_ , 'in his mind and that pleased Arthur for some reason.

"No!" Merlin finally retorted. "I mean the dinner you were supposed to be having at mine tonight?" he grinned and Arthur grimaced, he forgot all about that. "I'm making steak, just for you, because you look like the sort that likes steak, and you better be nice about it too, 'cause Freya is a vegetarian and now wants to cut off some of my body parts for cooking it."

"I think I might help her," Arthur shrugged. "Then we'll have you for dinner."

"Ah, so you're a steak and a cannibal sort, got it," Merlin was still grinning. "That makes Christmas shopping for you easier."

"Christmas shopping?" Arthur asked, eyes narrowing at the other. "I don't even like you!"

"Ohh, yes you do, stop lying to yourself!" Merlin told him putting his hands on his hips and looked rather pleased with himself. "Besides…I buy gifts for all my neighbors."

"Course you would."

"It's because I'm nice."

"Or irritating, I'm going with irritating," Arthur shrugged, stepping out of his flat and shutting the door behind him. "And this steak better be good or else I'm going to be pissed."

Merlin was beaming suddenly, walking the three steps over to his door. "Oh, don't worry, you'll love it…if not, you can just punch me in the eye again."

"Don't tempt me."

Once across the hall and in Merlin's domain, Arthur was forced to sit in an overly flowery sitting room and force-fed tea. Alright, he wasn't force-fed, but he may as well have been. Merlin came bustling in and out of the kitchen, asking Arthur if he needed anything. He tripped over the coffee table three times, Arthur counted.

Freya came from the hall sometime (a good long time,) after Arthur had arrived and true to Merlin's words, she didn't look pleased. (Not that she looked pleased the last time they had met either,) she faked a smile in Arthur's general direction and proceeded to walk into the kitchen, where, Arthur heard a muttered argument take place.

Freya emerged from the kitchen looking in simple form, pissed off, she came and sat on the couch next to Arthur, without a single word said. It was clear she didn't like Arthur so much, and that was alright, Arthur really didn't like her either. He didn't even like Merlin.

"Would you like more tea?" she asked, clearly trying to find conversation, or trying to find a way out of the room. Arthur wouldn't give it to her, if he had to sit here awkwardly, someone else did too.

"No, thanks."

"Your dinner should be done shortly," she said then and Arthur almost shrugged, but then stopped, looking over at her.

"Will I be eating alone?" he asked. "Or will I just be on display while eating?"

"Merlin will eat with you, obviously," she bit back. "But I refuse to eat anything when meat was prepared with it."

"You must be a real pill at restaurants then," Arthur commented, rolling his eyes.

"I don't eat at restaurants; I have standers, unlike some people."

Arthur looked over at her again, one eyebrow raised so high on his forehead that it was starting to hurt, his father would be proud of the scowl he was giving her. "Are you implying I don't? Just because I enjoy the taste of a good bit of cow?"

"Harming animals for something so selfish is wrong!" Freya retorted, looking disgusted with him. Arthur couldn't fathom thinking that keeping yourself from starving to death was selfish.

"God put these things on this earth for us to eat them, so it's obviously alright," he retorted, simple as that.

"I'm an Atheist."

Well, there was no arguing with that, was there? Luckily, he didn't have to try, because Merlin walked out of the kitchen then, grinning. But it fell, as soon as he looked between the pair of them, he frowned.

"The steaks will be done in a moment," he said, to which Freya made an exasperated noise. Merlin glanced over to her and then looked back at Arthur, with a small smile. "I've been a rotten host, I'm sorry," he offered, coming over then and sitting between him and Freya. "But I have a minute now…"

"I'm pretty sure you are a rotten everything…" Arthur trailed off, shrugging Merlin's comment off a bit.

"Well, that's not very nice, is it?" Merlin asked. "After I'm in there slaving away for you, at least you could pretend to have a good time."

"Whoever said I was nice?'

"No, you're right, you're just a prat."

It was then Arthur realized he much rather fight with Merlin, at least then he was somewhat entertained. They bickered back and forth for another few minutes, before some strange odor filled the room.

"What is that smell?" Freya, who was still sitting there for some reason, commented. "It's horrible!"

"I don't-THE STEAKS!" Merlin bolted up and ran into the kitchen. "OH GOD, NO!" was heard a second later. Freya and Arthur looked at each other, and for not liking each other, they seemed to be on the same page. Both of them jumped up and ran into the kitchen.

There was a fire, an actual fire on the stove. It burned light yellows and oranges, and Merlin was all but crying over it, moaning things like, _'My steaks!_ ' and _'They were so expensive!'_ It did seem Freya wanted to protect her boyfriend from the burning flames though, she pushed him back, before starting to yell at him.

"How do we put it out?!" she yelled, to which Merlin blinked at, like he had no idea what was going on, much less how to fix the problem. He then promptly went over to the sink and filled up a cup of water, bringing it over to the stove and-

"No!" Arthur yelled this time, he had no other choice. He ripped the cup of water out of Merlin's hand and poured it down the drain. "Are you out of your mind?!" he barked, looking through cupboards for a fire extinguisher "Are you trying to kill us all?!"

"What?" Merlin asked, sounding panicked, but still rather clueless. "I was trying to put it out!"

"With water?" Arthur looked over his shoulder, as he looked in the cupboard under the sink again. This is where it should be! He thought, that's where his was in his flat.

"What's the difference?" Merlin asked, Arthur rolled his eyes at that.

"It's getting worse!" Freya announced.

"Oh my fucking god, where the hell is your fire extinguisher?!"

"Oh…" Merlin said then, running from the room like he had just remembered where he missed placed something. Arthur turned and watched him go, confused. He looked back to the fire sizzling away and sighed, the flames were growing and if it didn't get extinguished soon it was going to burn the whole bloody place down. Merlin returned within a moment, fire extinguisher in hand. He turned it on and aimed for the fire.

"What the fuck was it doing in there?!" Arthur yelled, not entirely sure where it was located, but it **should** be in the kitchen. He ripped it from Merlin's hands and squeezed the lever, watching white stuff stray everywhere. He continued on, even after the flames were out, mostly as a precaution and only a little bit because this stuff was really hard to clean up and it served both Freya and Merlin right.

"Freya likes to burn a lot of incense and candles in the bedroom, that's why I keep it there," Merlin thought he should explain, after a moment and Arthur finally stopped straying. Arthur looked over at him, making sure he expressed how done he was with Merlin right now, and thrust the fire extinguisher back into Merlin's arms.

"Idiot," he muttered, before exiting the kitchen and the flat all together, promising to never, ever, go over there again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Honestly, I found this chapter a bit crappy. A lot crappy, actually. Please let me know any adjustments you might like to see to this work. I don't mean plot, I mostly mean style wise.)


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